The top 20 attacking players in the Premier League this season, as determined by their 'Expected Goals'

The stat has come under fire from some - including Sky Sports' Jeff Stelling - but as a metric for understanding for who the best attacking players in the Premier League are then it's a pretty good one

Ah come on now, you don't need to hide behind the sofa. At least hear us out for a bit, eh?

The expected goals stat (or xG as the cool people call it - cool obviously coming with added air quotes) has become a bit of a thing this season, with Opta rolling out the metrics to an unsuspecting public for the very first time.

And to say it has been met with skepticism is an understatment.

Soccer Saturday favourite Jeff Stelling is the latest figure to publicly ridicule the notion, but - much like Marmite - for every person who seems to make fun of it there is another who swears by it.

These two: Pretty good at the old Expected Goals thing (Image: Reuters)

You sense the key thing about the criticisms is that not everyone understands what xG is, but it really isn't that hard to understand...

(the vast majority of readers leave)

Still there? Good.

Well it is pretty much based on the idea that, wherever you are on a football pitch, you have a certain statistical chance to score a goal or make an assist - based on data Opta have collected from thousands and thousands of matches.

Well of course you'd have expected Lukaku to score from there (Image: Getty Images Europe)

Well luckily stats writer Michael Caley has done just that , and come up with the top 20 players in the Premier League this season based on their expected goals and expected assists, so basically the players who have got into the most threatening attacking positions.

And his finding show us that:

Both Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus either score or assist more than one goal a game this season - the only two Premier League players to do so.

Five of the top 10 attacking players this season are Manchester City players.

Watford's Richarlison is the only player in the top 16 from outside the top six, underlining what a special talent he is.

Here are the top 20, and you can see their figures in the tweet below.

20. Riyad Mahrez, Leicester

The 2015/16 title winner is still a highly-effective presence (Image: AFP)

19. Roberto Firmino, Liverpool

The Brazilian has led the Liverpool line with aplomb (Image: AFP)

18. Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City

Listen, we don't make the rules (Image: REUTERS)

17. Tammy Abraham, Swansea

You'd expect a goal from there (Image: Getty Images Europe)

16. Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal

The Welshman has had a quietly impressive campaign (Image: Alex Livesey)

15. Dele Alli, Tottenham

No really Dele, it's true (Image: AFP)

14. Mesut Ozil, Arsenal

The German might be on the way out at the Emirates, but he's still performing well (Image: AFP)

13. Marcus Rashford, Manchester United

The United and England youngster is having another stellar season (Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)